Pope Francis needs a microscope to eye Lithuanian crib

In this image made available by the Lithuanian President’s office, President Dalia Grybauskaite looks through a microscope inside the Presidential Place in Vilnius, Friday Dec. 22, 2017. (Lithuanian President's Office via AP)

In this image made available by LinkMenu fabrikas on Friday Dec. 22, 2017 shows a six image combination of the minuscule nativity scene that was given to Pope Francis. ( LinkMenu fabrikas via AP)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania has given Pope Francis a Christmas present invisible to the naked eye: a Nativity scene where baby Jesus is smaller than a human cell.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Friday looked through a microscope to see a replica of the crib at Vilnius’s downtown Cathedral Square, a copy of the nativity scene that was given to Francis by Lithuanian diplomats earlier this month.

She said it took three months for Lithuanian scientists and students to create the minuscule crib from a 3D scan of the life-size crèche, reducing it 10,000 times.

Francis plans to visit the Baltics next year. Details about Francis’ trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have not been released yet but he is expected in the fall of 2018.